EU Human Rights in Film Award Honors Outstanding Filmmakers at Tbilisi International Film Festival
In the closing ceremony of the Tbilisi International Film Festival, the “EU Human Rights in Film Award 2023” was awarded to two exemplary films. The EU Ambassador Pawel Herczynski presented awards to the winners at the Amirani Cinema, marking the fifth consecutive year of this award at the festival.
For the first time, this year’s award celebrated achievements in two distinct categories: documentary and fiction. The documentary award was presented to „Smiling Georgia” directed by Luka Beradze. In the fiction category, „Endless Borders“ by Abbas Amini captivated the jury, comprising esteemed film professionals experts.
Ambassador Pawel Herczynski, during his address at the ceremony, emphasized the value of this collaboration with TIFF.
“At a time, when Georgia and Europe are closer than ever, promoting Georgian cinematographic industry and the unique culture of Georgia is of the great importance for the European Union. The EU Delegation to Georgia sponsors a very special festival category – Human Rights in Film Award. We have been sponsoring this category since 2017 and we are even happier to award not one, but two films in this category this year – one fiction and one documentary, right at the beginning of the International Human Rights Week.”
This year, a total of 10 movies were nominated across these special EU categories, showcasing a wide spectrum of perspectives on human rights.
Fiction Films:
• Endless Borders/უსასრულო საზღვრები – Abbas Amini, Germany/Czech Republic/Iran 2023
• Lost Country/ დაკარგული ქვეყანა – Vladimir Perisic, Serbia/France/Croatia/Luxembourg, 2023
• Opponent/ მეტოქე – Milad Alami, Sweden, 2023
• The Burdened/დამძიმებული – Amr Gamal, Yemen/Sudan/Saudi Arabia, 2023
• Woman Of / ქალი – Małgorzata Szumowska, Michał Englert, Poland/Sweden, 2023
Documentaries:
• In the Rearview/ საიდან სად – Maciek Hamela, Poland/France/Ukraine, 2023
• Motherland/სამშობლო – Hanna Badziaka, Alexander Mihalkovich, Sweden/UA/NO, 2023
• Smiling Georgia/ღიმილიანი საქართველო – Luka Beradze, Georgia/Germany 2023
• Our Body/ჩვენი სხეული – Claire Simon, France, 2023
• We Will Not Fade Away/ ჩვენ არ გავქრებით – Alisa Kovalenko, Ukraine/France/Poland 2023
It has become a regular practice for the EU Delegation to Georgia to support a unique category – the Human Rights in Film Award. The ‘EU Human Rights in Film’ Award is established on the occasion Human Rights Day, which is marked on December 10.
The Prometheus Center for Cinematographic Art has been organizing the Tbilisi International Film Festival since 2000, and the goal is to present new outstanding foreign and Georgian films.